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Dragon Age: The Veilguard director Corinne Busche leaves BioWare

Though Busche leaves behind an 18-year career at EA, BioWare is reportedly otherwise unaffected.

January 17, 2025 9:00 AM

Image via BioWare

It’s been a handful of months since Dragon Age: The Veilguard came out, but it sounds like one of its leads is ready to move on to something new. Corinne Busche, Game Director on Dragon Age: The Veilguard, has reportedly exited BioWare recently after an 18-year-long stint of working at Electronic Arts. At this time, BioWare is reported to be unaffected otherwise and will continue operations without Busche.

Busche’s exit from BioWare was reported via Eurogamer, which reportedly confirmed the exit with sources familiar alongside Jeff Grubb. Following confirmation, Busche herself claimed that the reason for her exit was the offer of a new RPG project outside of BioWare that she simply “couldn’t turn down.” The exit was on mutual terms, and Busche stated that she accomplished what she wanted to accomplish at BioWare with the launch of Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

A main character in Dragon Age: The Veilguard faces off against a ghostly creature. — Following the release of Dragon Age: The Veilguard in 2024, Busche reportedly received an offer to lead a project that she "couldn't turn down."
Source: BioWare

Busche’s full statement to Eurogamer can be read below:

At the heart of it, this was about my own fulfillment. I did what I set out to do at BioWare. That is to come in and help right the ship. I love Dragon Age, and BioWare, so the chance to return the game to a proper quality single player RPG was the privilege of a lifetime. It was hard fought, as games with such tumultuous dev cycles rarely end up shipping, and even more rarely turn out great. We, as a team, did it. And it was hard. It took a toll on me. BioWare still has a lot of work to do culturally, but I do believe they are on the right footing now. As for me, my departure was voluntary, as I have been presented with an opportunity I couldn't turn down. I don’t want to say much more right now, but you can count on it being in the CRPG space and upholding the traditions of great characters.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard was quite the ambitious adventure, and though it didn’t hit on every note, it did make for quite a worthy launch from BioWare in 2024. And so, it sounds like though Busche is leaving BioWare, we can certainly look forward to her name being elsewhere in the gaming industry. As we watch to see what comes of this exciting new project, stay tuned to Shacknews for further news and updates.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on BlueSky @JohnnyChugs.

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January 17, 2025 9:00 AM

TJ Denzer posted a new article, Dragon Age: The Veilguard director Corinne Busche leaves BioWare
- azshack
  
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  January 17, 2025 10:54 AM
  
  Should start this up sometime but I hear the writing is awful.
  - JohnnyChugs
    
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    January 17, 2025 12:30 PM
    
    It's very, very Superhero movie jocular vibe. Like they were writing a spinoff of the Dungeons and Dragons movie. I know some folks liked that vibe. I wasn't crazy about it. Felt like none of the characters were taking the narrative as seriously as any of them should. A "Too Many Bards" situation.
    - AxeMan808
      
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      January 17, 2025 12:37 PM
      
      It *was* the only time I've liked Chris Pine.
      I only didn't care for the "You Can Dooo Eeeeet" mage arc.
      The humor made it feel more like an actual table game. GM would've stepped in a couple of times to make them move it along though.